Ai Latier, 12

District 3 Male

My breath came in heavy pants as I followed Annabeth along the rocky trail. My feet thumped against the ground but my sturdy shoes kept them from aching. Shoes as good as these would be out of budget for so many people in District 3. I was insanely lucky to be able to afford them. Or, rather, my adopted father could afford them.

"Annabeth?" I asked as she paused her jog to stretch. She glanced at me.

"Yeah?"

"I'm worried about Beetee."

Our father had spent most of the week in his room or his office. He was an introverted man but he did like to spend time with all of us. We always had dinner as a family and this week he'd missed most of them.

"He's probably worried about the reaping," Annabeth said. "He has to mentor this year because Wiress isn't doing well."

"I know," I mumbled. My shoulders sank as I thought of District 3's only female victor. She struggled with her health in more ways than one and didn't deserve the mental suffering she had to endure.

"He'll be okay once he's back," Annabeth assured me, noticing the look on my face. "Mentoring is hard but he's always happy to be home."

"Do you think there's a way to cheer him up?" I asked her. She shrugged.

"Link and Lua have known him the longest. They might have ideas. Now, come on. We've still got half a mile to go!"

Annabeth broke into a run again and I jogged after her, but I couldn't outrun my worry for Beetee…

When we reached the gates of the Victor's Village, I was thoroughly exhausted. Beetee insisted we all keep in shape and learn basic survival and weaponry skills. Annabeth and Lua loved it, and I didn't mind it, but Link often protested. The 16-year-old boy was not a fan of the outdoors and would much rather stay inside to read or bake. He and his twin were complete opposites in that way.

Annabeth opened the front door to our house and we were greeted by the smell of baking bread.

"Hi!" Link called from the kitchen. "I'm making garlic bread and spaghetti for tonight!"

"Sounds great!" Annabeth called back. "I can give you a hand after I shower, if you want."

Link said something back but I was already heading up the stairs. I desperately wanted to rinse the sweat off my body. Once I was in my room I kicked my clothes off and climbed into the warm shower. The luxury of having hot water was not lost on me even after three years in Beetee's house. The community home showers were freezing.

Everything at the community home was dull and dark and sad. The people there treated us well, but funding was low and we all had to work in the factories. And people would rarely adopt. We were more likely to age out of the home and be forced to find housing alone.

But Beetee chose me. I was only nine and working part-time at a factory that produced computer parts. I'd been at the community home my entire life and didn't ever expect to leave. But Beetee saw something in me that made him want me, and so I joined him and Link and Lua. And a year later, Annabeth became part of the family too.

I switched the water off and began to towel myself dry. Across the room, my closet was open. My dark purple reaping shirt was hanging neatly, right at the very front. A lump rose in my throat.

I wasn't ashamed to admit that I was scared. I only had one slip in the reaping bowl but there was always a chance I could be chosen. How would Beetee feel if he had to mentor his own son?

No, I told myself. I couldn't think like that. I would be safe. And if the odds were against me and I was chosen, I would be ready. I could throw knives. I could wrestle. I could start fires and identify plants and build shelters. If I was reaped, I could survive.

Yarrow Venus, 17

District 3 Female

It felt like the yelling from downstairs would never end. No matter how many times Mr. and Mrs. Lim fought with Vanessa, she never changed. They could rage for hours and still have the energy for an argument the next night. Life in the Lim household was never quiet.

"You're throwing your life away!" Mrs. Lim screeched. "Drinks, drugs, parties… we raised you better than this!"

"You didn't raise me!" Vanessa shouted back. "You foisted me off to a nanny and locked yourselves in your offices!"

"We did what we thought was best! Why can't you just be grateful? You could learn so much from Yarrow!"

"Oh yes, perfect righteous Yarrow!" Vanessa yelled. "Why did you even bother having a kid if you just wanted to adopt a perfect little pet?"

"We wanted you to have a sister! A good influence in your life!"

"Well, all you did was make it worse!"

She's awful, I thought to myself, not for the first time. I knew Mr. and Mrs. Lim only adopted me because their daughter was a delinquent. They were the most perfect perfectionists I knew and they wanted an obedient little girl. I was that girl, but not because I wanted to be.

When my parents died, I was shipped off to the community home and forgotten about. The Peacekeepers didn't even bother telling me how my parents died. I was only ten. I overheard some adults say it was a factory accident, but no one ever told me directly. I was just bounced from room to room and job to job and expected to be productive.

I learned from a young age that in order to get places in life, you had to be tough, and you had to be liked. In an orphanage, whoever appealed the most to potential adopters went home. Usually it was the babies, or the cute little toddlers. Sometimes it was the sweet kids, like Ai. He got adopted by a victor. It wasn't the plain, shy, older girl.

So I made people like me. I was friendly and helpful and polite and I hid how angry I was. How much I was hurting because I never got closure and I never got a chance to live my life for me. I would be stuck being pretty and perfect for the Lims forever.

Deep down, I didn't feel sweet. I didn't feel nice. But I wanted to live more than I wanted to be authentic. Maybe I could make my own life someday. I could get a job at their big fancy tech company and make nepotism money and have my own house. I could even adopt a kid and pay the kindness forward. But I wouldn't be me.

Vanessa began to stomp up the stairs and I flopped back on my bed. If she was going to come yell at me, I had to prepare to play the victim. If she was going to her room, I could get some peace and quiet… until dinner time, when Mrs. Lim would fuss over me and shower me with praise.

It would be nice to be liked as a person, but they liked me as an image. A prop.

I grabbed my knitting needles and began to knit furiously again. My lumpy yellow scarf was halfway done. I had to look pretty and perfect all the time so it felt great to make something ugly.

Hello! Here I am, back with another intro. District 3 this time! Thank you to AmericanPi for Ai and NyanToDaMax145 for Yarrow. They were both a blast to write. If you can, please leave a review and let me know what you thought of these two! Reviews make me happy and I could really use some happiness right now...

And next up is District 4, so keep an eye out for them!

Have a nice day, be kind to each other, and never stop reading!

- Fiona